← ArchiveSunday, January 28, 2018DateJanuary 28, 2018Speaker—Text—Passages in this sermon2 Corinthians 49:112 Corinthians 4:713:31Romans 524:14Proverbs 135:16Joshua 137:09Ephesians 639:18TranscriptMachine transcribed. Click any line to jump there.0:00The word gospel translates to news that brings joy. But this isn't just any news. A gospel is news that changes a life forever. After being invaded and enslaved by Persia, Greece won two decisive battles at Marathon and Solas. The Greeks sent out heralds, also called evangelists, to proclaim the good news to the cities. We have fought for you. We have won. And now, you're no longer slaves. You're free. The reality is that we are all slaves.0:30Slaves to sin and slaves to death. We are slaves in need of good news. Enter Jesus, God's Son. Fully God, fully man. Bringing news that would change our lives forever. His news was this. I am the divine. Come to you to do what you could not do for yourself. I will take what you deserve, so you can have what I deserve. You have no idea how much it will cost me.0:59But you also cannot imagine the depths of my love for you. It is a gift that I give freely. So repent. Repent from all the ways you've run from me and follow me. Follow me because I am the only way to eternal life. Follow me because I'm the Savior you've been looking for. Follow me because I have authority over everything. Yet I have humbled myself for you. Follow me because I died on a cross for you. Because I'm your true love and your true life.1:29This is my good news for you. This is my gospel. That you have been saved by grace. And that you are slaves no more. Good morning, saints.1:44I want to thank the pastor and the leadership here at Bethel Baptist for inviting us to come and be a part of your worship service on this Sunday morning.2:05And we're excited about what the Lord has to say and how he wants to bless us on this Sunday morning. It may be raining, but the sun is still shining. Amen. Amen. Amen. So we are delighted to be here. My family is here with me.2:34And they're sitting up in the balcony up there. My wife and daughters and son in the Lord and grandbaby. How about that? Amen. Amen. Josh, thank you all for inviting us. And we're excited about being here. And how many of y'all watched Alabama play a few weeks ago? All right. Awesome. Keep your hand up. Keep your hand up. Woo!3:04Woo! Was that an exciting game? Was that a great game? Huh? All right. I got something for you. I want you all to act like y'all at the game. Uh-oh. What you mean? Yeah, I want you to stay excited. God wants you to stay excited this morning. Not just about a football game, but the game of life. Hello. Amen. Now, what we're going to do is take off some layers this morning. Some things that maybe you think is the traditional way of how you're supposed to worship.3:31And God want to take you to another level. Amen. Amen. Somebody said, let's do it. Amen. How are you going to have an influence and an impact in this world if you're not excited about your God? So I decided I wasn't going to let the world outdo me. Because they don't have the good news. So if I got the good news, who ought to be excited?4:02You show me in the Bible where it says, do not get excited about Jesus. Pull that commandment out for me. Pull that commandment out for me. Is it in there? Well, what's the problem? Who's convinced you that God is not excited about you? And me. He takes pleasure in you. He's excited about you.4:32And that's what's been my anchor in my life. I don't know about you, but I look around. Some of us have been living long enough. We've had some turmoil. We've had some trials. We've had some situations in life that have just come against us. Amen. So how do you handle it? You know how I succeeded in football? I followed the instructions. Amen. Coach said, do this. I did. Hot diggity dog.5:02That worked. I reckon I'd do it again. You know, and I kept doing it over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over. That's what? They said, we'll pay you to do this. You will? I'm going to get paid to do something I love to do. Bring it on. Every day. You watch young men last week or a few weeks ago when we play. They're doing something. They're not getting back. And they love it.5:38And so you get a chance. So how did I succeed? How was I succeed? How did I become an All-American? Well, all of them. I just, this is what they said, dude. I did it. So we're going to open up the Word of God. Look at what he said, dude. And then we just do it. Amen. Then you don't have all that confusion. And you know, I don't know how many of y'all play sports. Yeah, play with those folks. You know, on your team, players, whatever. They just didn't get it. Like, it's pretty simple. Do what the coach said, dude.6:07Well, I don't know. I got a headache today. What they got to do? Carry out the instructions. You know, they play with people that just didn't know how to make it, keep it simple. Stupid. You know what I mean? Keep it simple. Stupid. Just do what the coach said. So we're going to just, see, and so when we don't, you find out, man, life can be really complicated. And you're walking around scratching your head and it's, I'm dealing with a situation.6:30My wife and I, we married several couples and we're just dealing with a situation. Children, marriage, they let the enemy come into camp and cause a separation. It's not in God's will for that.6:59And I was just sitting in there as we just, I said, Lord, what's the wrong? God said, it's pretty simple, Jeremiah. You either obey or you disobey. And both of them have consequences. That's it, saints. So as we open the word up this morning, you and I are going to do one of two things. We're going to obey it or we're going to disobey it. There's a reward when we do and there's a consequence when we don't. That's it. Now, you can let the devil make you try to complicate it, make, oh, it's more than that.7:29No, no, no, it's not. If you really believe what the word of God says. Now, if you don't, then we are, you already got a problem. I got to where I'm at in life because I came to understand that as a teenager. I believe that this is God's word. You do it. None of us are perfect yet, but guess what? That's where you need to be intent and purpose. True north.7:59True north. Hello. Amen. So. I just believe that you achieve great things in life by keeping it simple. I don't know how many of you raise children, but you have to keep it simple with children. So if you have your Bibles this morning, we're going to look at what the word of God says. We want to encourage you this morning. God, the spirit of God want to encourage you this morning. I feel like I play for the one of the greatest encouragers ever coached a game of football.8:29Coach Paul W. Brian. It's great because he knew how to encourage people. He believed in you when you didn't believe in yourself and he encouraged you. So we want to God, the greatest coach wants to encourage you and I this morning with his word. I don't know how you came in this morning, but if you, you, you got a temperature of 98.6, like me, you came in with some problems.8:52Amen. Amen. So you need some solution to the problem. Then God word is the solution to all of our problems that they are in life. So if you have your Bibles, turn to 2 Corinthians chapter four with me this morning. Amen. You know, I found out when I play football at how, you know how, how it works in football.9:18You know, you pretty much whatever you put in is kind of what you're going to get out. I play with God. Guess what they want to put about 50% in, in practice. You think coach Brown was looking for 50%? I can all tell you, he wasn't, he wasn't even looking for a hundred. Me and let's give me 110% today. He didn't even say a hundred.9:49He's every time coach Brian gave you an, it was going to be 110. Just get a little bit better. Just, just get me and me. Hold a hand up like that during two days. Just get a little bit better. You know, when he'd do that and it was about 120 out there on that field, I'd look, oh, well, I can do that. Today, guess what? Deathly, can you, can you do that?10:19Can you get a little bit better today? You know what? After four years, I was an all American. Just that right there. After four years, I was career leading interceptor. I just, that right there. So as we open up the word of God today, you just make up your mind that you're going to get a little bit better as a husband, a little bit better as a student, a little bit better as a son or a daughter, a little bit better as a father, a little bit better as a grandfather, a little bit better as a saint.10:35Amen. And you ought to be proud that you're a saint and you're not an ain't. Amen. Yeah, you got this saying, I ain't a saint. Well, you know what? If you ain't a saint, well, you an ain't. Where all ain't's going?11:06It's almost like we, you're not supposed to be ashamed of the gospel. You're not supposed to be ashamed of your God. Just ask you a minute ago, how many road tires we got here? Hey, because we're on the top. Hello, amen. Alabama won it all. We ain't ashamed of that. Now, some school can't say that. Amen. Guess what? They can't get a road tire.11:35I can say road tire. Last 11 years, guess what? Alabama won it five times. They've been their top team. You think them guys walking around down there? Well, no. No. They're not. Why do we as saints? You're ashamed on your job.12:05You're ashamed at school. This whole time you get your praise on, it's meant to be lived out. That's a process for everybody in this room. Still a process for me. You've been walking with them 80 years.12:36It's still a process because you got flesh on. I guarantee you, you better have your mind made up about who you're going to serve and not be ashamed. I say that because I had to walk through that. I had to walk through some shame. Growing up in an alcoholic home. Growing up with domestic violence. Growing up where your parents lived dishonorable lives. See, so I had some shame. I had things that God had to say.13:05Hey, guess what? I'll give you the power. To walk through every bit of it. I'll give you a vision. I'll give you a dream. It doesn't matter how many people laugh at you. You'll get the last laugh. Amen. Every Bible, turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 4, verse 7. I want to read to you, sir.13:35I'm going to give you several verses in the Bible today. I like for people to open up their Bibles. Amen. You can follow along with me. Amen. You need to do a little work. Look at chapter 4, verse 7. Listen to what it say. And I'm going to give you this verse. This was our theme verse for the year in our chapel service with our football team. This is my 17th year at the chapel at the University of Alabama. This verse I'm reading to you was the verse that we had all year. It says, but we have this treasure in earthen vessels,14:07that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. So our theme for the year was, in pursuit of excellence. You and I start out this January, this 2018. Let that be your goal, that you're going to be in the pursuit of excellence. That in every area of your life, you're going to be pursuing excellence. I can share this with you.14:38The reason you need to make your mind up is because you're pursuing something. It just may not be a spirit of excellence. Now, if we look around in our world, we see that people are losing their life because they are in pursuit of sin. And God's word tells you the results of pursuing sin. What's the end result? Death. Yes, death.15:09Yes, death. So what are you, Bethel Baptist, what are you pursuing? You got up this morning. Today, you've been pursuing something. Tomorrow, God give us that. Tomorrow, Monday, you're going to be pursuing something. Is it a life of excellence? When it's all said and done, will it be a life of excellence?15:41So our players, this year, when it's all said and done, January 8th, had they pursued excellence? Did they accomplish it? Was it easy? You watch the game? Some of you doubt it. Some of you turned the TV off. Mm-hmm. Got down by 13 points. You're like, I ain't watching this no matter.16:08Look at that. They just let Georgia beat the brakes off. I don't hurt at all. But the game wasn't over. At a buddy, I was talking to you last night. His wife went to sleep. Second half said, I ain't watching no more of that. Then she wake up that morning. He said, Alabama won. What? Yeah, the last play. What? The last play. Will you hang in there to the last play?16:39Will you believe to the last play? What's your attitude when you're down by 13? 13. Do you believe then? So he's telling you and I right here, we have this what? We have this treasure. You look that word up. Treasure means an abundance of wealth. Who's the treasure?17:09We've been singing about him this morning. His name is Jesus. The spirit of the living God lives on the inside of you. Every born again belief. So you have a treasure. Amen. It's an abundance of wealth. What that means. Whatever the need is in your life. Guess what God has done? Phew. He's already paid for it. He's wrote a check.17:39You just got to stand in faith. Wait on the Lord. Wait. You know about that game, January? You know what? Georgia was up by 13 points. Guess what they had to do? Wait. Guess what? They just couldn't end the game in the third quarter. Mm-mm. Some goal time. Guess what, Georgia? If they'd stop, if they'd say, okay, hey, the game up.18:08Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope. Can't do that. Something called time. Time is on your side. How come? The God that created it lives in you. Wait on him. Wait. Wait. What's wrong? People don't want to wait. So this treasure, where is it at? It's in you. In what?18:38In what? What we call an earthen vessel. That's you and me. Vessels. We're a vessel. You know you're a vessel for blessing? You know you're supposed to be a vessel for blessing? When's the last time you were a blessing to someone? When's the last time you blessed the Lord? When's the last time you blessed your neighbor? When's the last time you blessed your children? When's the last time you blessed your coworker? Woo. Are you in the cursing business? You're a vessel. God created you to be a vessel.19:07Let me tell you what you do with vessels. You deposit and dispense. A vessel is used for deposit and dispense. I got one right up here. There's a deposit that's been made. Every time I open it up and go, I'm dispensing. That's what God wants you and me to do. 2018, will you be a vessel of deposit and dispense? I'm preaching better than y'all saying amen.19:37Because this is the word. Amen. It's the word. It's truth. You're a vessel. When's the last time you got excited about God using you and taking your faith and being a blessing to another person? It's amazing our thought process. How ungodly and unbelieving believers' thought process. Okay, I'm going to hit some toes. You just take it and say, okay, Lord, you're talking to me.20:06You know, that's what I had to do on a lot of Mondays when I was in the film room. When Coach Bryant done walked in, you know, you used to call it the eye in the sky. They were sharing with you all of your, what was it called? I can tell you this. It wasn't called corrective criticism. Hey, I can tell you this. They were, hey, they didn't care about, they didn't, Coach Bryant didn't care about your feelings. I can tell you what he cared about, excellence.20:38All I want to know is who wants to play this left cornerback position and is going to do it the way I said it's supposed to be done. That's it. And if you didn't, guess what? They let you know in a very colorful way. And all the guys with a little bit of thin skin, you know what, man? The wind just blew you on from just closer. You didn't hang around.21:08You didn't make it. So what did Jeremiah have to do? I had to become a grown-up.21:25So God is saying to you and I, I created you to be a vessel. I've deposited myself in you. Now, whatever your daily travels, then you dispense me. You take me everywhere you go. You take me everywhere you go. Bless people. Be a blessing.21:59What's the next word? What's the next word? Excellence. So we've got four words in it. Treasure, vessel, excellence. You know what the word excellence is? You look that word up, it's an athletic term. Tied to it. Tied to it. That is, if you're out competing, you're throwing a ball that you can throw it beyond what they can measure. Beyond measure. Beyond measure.22:31Beyond measure. Let me ask you, saints. When it's all said and done, when people look at your life, will it be beyond measure? Excellence means beyond measure. Can't be measured. So you're trying to live this life without the strength of the Holy Spirit operating in you and through you, and it's not possible. And you become discouraged when you look at the circumstances that look insurmountable. God allows it to be that way so that you're dependent on him.23:09Love something Coach Saban said this year we was playing. That's how I believe we were playing Mississippi State. Man, I'm going to tell you, they was hitting us in the mouth. Anybody watch that game? Pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop. The whole stadium, I mean, them cowbells going, blah, blah, blah, man, just, ooh, they were loud. They was, and they was taking it to us. I think it was a half time he came in, he said, man, I told you I'd expect it to be hard. Man, I told you, man, expect that game to be hard today.23:41Sound like something God will say. You know what the next words were from him? But we overcome hard. Woo! It just came down to the last few seconds. Anybody watch that game? Yeah. We overcome hard.24:10You don't believe that? Turn with me. Go to Romans chapter 5. Amen. Amen. Amen. Guess what we do? Guess what we do, saints? So I gave our team seven words this year. That you have to incorporate to have a spirit of excellence. I'll probably just get through one of them this morning, based on the time. You got your Bibles?24:41Go to chapter 5 in Romans. Listen to what it says in verse 3. And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance, and perseverance character, character, hope. Our first word for the year was character.25:06Perseverance, endurance, produces something called character. What is character? Moral excellence. Can I share something with you? If you want to know what your moral excellence is like, I want you to take the first commandment and the second commandment. And see where you're at with them. Love the Lord with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and your who? Neighbor. As yourself.25:37As yourself. And I can tell you right now, most people that name the name, they're coming up short on the commandment. And you don't have the Christ-like character. You're not after moral excellence. We'll skip all the way down to the 100th and 200th commandment, and we miss the first two. And we're jumping up and down, because we're on 190. I'm doing that one. Man, you don't have moral excellence.26:07Who's your neighbor? When was the last time you loved your neighbor as yourself? Mmm. Quick, say, well, we love God. No, how about your neighbor?26:36So how do you produce character? How do you produce moral excellence? God said, I've got to allow some trials in your life. You're reading it, right? Amen. Amen. He said, we overcome hard. We glory in it. Is that what it says? We glory in it. When the last time you gloried? You watch that ball game. Alabama's down by 13 points. Guess what the guys on the sideline are doing? The one that really believed.27:05What do you think two attack of the Lord was doing? He believed. How'd you like to be 18 years old? Last game of the year before you get a significant playing time. Would you want to have been put in the game then? Hello. Amen. Have you thought about that? That's what God does.27:35He waits till the most opportune time to say, okay, now. Yeah, I'm going to. Here you go, Jeremiah. Then he sees how we handle it. Called attitude. You know why I was a great player? Because I learned something about attitude. Keep yours positive. When? When everything around you said, man, you can't get the job done. Let me help you with something.28:04You ever watch them guys call defensive backs? Give you a little job description. Okay? I played it. Left corner. All four years in Alabama. Let me help you with something. You got to cover a guy called a wide receiver. All right? Now, he's running forward. You're running backwards. That's a job description. You got one at your workplace. Amen? Amen? So, already off the bat, what do you, if I told you that, guess what you said? This ain't fair. Sound like a two-year-old, don't we?28:37That was my job. How about this one? He know where he's going. You don't. How many times y'all want to criticize defensive backs? Oh, man, that's good. I can do it back. But why don't you go out there and try it?28:58You can just see all them Georgia fans upset at that defensive back. How did he give up that play? Oh, man, that's a little bit. Oh, man. Quick to criticize. So, what's the job description for a defensive back? I'm giving it to you right now. That guy running forward, you running backwards. I did it many a days. He know where he's going. You don't. And guess what the coach expects? Excellence.29:30Excellence. You better cover him. What? Really? So, what did my attitude have to be? Put me in, coach. I'm ready to play today. Would that have been you? Them the circumstances. God looking for some people. He looking for some believers. Put me in, coach. I'm ready to play. How come? I can do all things through you.29:56Problem is you're not, you don't believe that. Tool did. He believed. You don't throw that last ball he threw and not believe. You know what else he believed? He believed when he threw that interception. You know what else he believed? He believed when he took that sack. Where were y'all at on that sack? Mm-hmm.30:27Mm-hmm. I know where you was at. Some of you were happy, weren't you? Because you ain't no Alabama fan. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Every time you look around, they go into the championship. They always in the championship. They ain't real. I can't fan out. And that's why God keeps blessing. Mm-hmm. Hello, amen. I know about when you walk in blessings and favor. People don't like that. People have, people that, you, you, you, do you love to see other people blessed?30:54Do you love to see your neighbors blessed? Or are you a jealous person? What kind of spirit you got? See, I just learned to pray for all of our coaches in the SEC. That's what I do as a chaplain. My responsibility is bigger than just the University of Alabama. I got to pray for Coach Malzahn. Hello, amen.31:24Hello, amen. Now, you, you pray for him? Yeah! Eternity football ain't gonna go on in eternity. I mean, get, get what I'm saying. There's something bigger than football. Yeah. Chad, where is Mr. Chaplain? We do a, we do a camp together. Chaplain at Auburn. We do a camp, we did a camp in Andalusia last year together. He preached the message. I didn't preach it. You know what the Lord said? You sit your little self down and you serve him. And he preached and 30 young men came to the Lord that evening.31:52Now, why y'all ain't fired up about that and excited about that? Say, amen. Amen. Amen. 30 young men that down in Andalus came. I don't have a ministry. God does. That's the problem. Some of you are thinking, you got a ministry. And you're hindering the Holy Spirit from moving and working in your life.32:20And you're hindering the Holy Spirit from moving and working in your life.32:31So he says, we what? We glory. Tribulations. Produces something. Perseverance produces character. So our word for the year was, our first word was character. Character. Let me ask you, where's your character? Do you know, every day our character is tested? Every day we get up. God has a way to produce character. Now, when you find people that don't have character, look at what it says. You're going to find people that don't have hope. It takes a man, a woman, a character to have hope.33:01So we live in a world, guess what? You look around, people don't have any hope. How come? They don't have character. They don't have character. Why do they don't have character? They don't have endurance. I'm backing it up for you now. Why do they don't have endurance? Because they didn't glory when the trial came. They took a bad attitude when the trial came. So that was our first word. And I believe it's the foundation for which you build a life of excellence off.33:29It's called character. And if you look in our culture here in the last two, three, four, five years in society, you've seen what's unraveled with a bunch of men that didn't have character. They had abilities and talents. It got them to the top, but they didn't have character all along the way. And we've seen their careers unravel. Amen. Y'all, you living in the same world I'm living in?33:58You getting the same news I'm getting? That should bother us. So what do we need to be teaching to our children? Character. How you do it? You live it out. You walk it out. Having character cost you? Yes. She's sitting looking at all of the men.34:27Careers. They let the devil steal from them. Some of them were highly paid. Tens of millions of dollars a year. And it's gone. Because they lacked character. What would be the second word? What's necessary for a life of excellence?34:55How about this word? Confidence. Show me a man of character. I'll show you a man or woman. To have confidence. Turn to Psalms. I'm sorry, Proverbs. Proverbs 1. Turn there real quick, man. We'll look at Proverbs 1. Look at what it says about. Confidence. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.35:26Amen. This is good stuff. Amen. I'm going to start reading in chapter 1. Listen to what it says. It says, The Proverbs of Solomon, The son of David, King of Israel, To know wisdom and instruction. To know wisdom and instruction. To perceive the words of understanding. To receive the instructions of wisdom. Justice, judgment, equity. How do you and I gain confidence? It's through the receiving and application of instructions. Parents, listen to me.35:58Young parents, you be a stickler that your children follow instructions. Show me a man or woman that don't have confidence. I'll show you a person that. Hadn't learned how to follow instructions. You know how I dominated at the left cornerback spot? I was telling you earlier. Coach said, do this. I did it. Duh. It worked. You know what happened? At 5'9", got my height. 155 pounds, 160 pounds.36:29In the SEC and in the NFL, guess what I did? I succeeded. Now, I dominated. Go back. You pull up the film. 6'2", 6'3", 6'4", guys. I learned how to dominate those guys. Woo! That's right. Line up, man. I'm not scared of anybody. How come? I've been given the instructions. I've carried them out. Guess what I know? Out comes good. What's the third word?37:02Courage. What's your outcome in life? What is the outcome? Go to Joshua 1 and look at it real quick as we get ready to close. Amen? I'm preaching better than y'all saying amen. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Go down to verse 6. Listen to what it says. Be strong and of good courage. What's the third word? Courage. Why do you need courage? Why do I need courage? You need courage. To conquer the unknown. To conquer the unknown.37:32What do men fear? Naturally. The unknown. We're giving it to you. You watch Alabama play. Before they play, guess what? There was an unknown. What was the unknown? Who's going to win? Tomorrow come. Guess what? You got some unknowns. I do too. Listen to what God's word says. Verse 6.38:02Verse 6. Be strong and of good courage. For to this people you shall divide as an inheritance the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. Listen to what it goes. Only be strong and very courageous. What was the situation here for the children of Israel? There were some unknowns. They were going about carrying out an assignment. You and I have been given one. He's saying be courageous. Be strong.38:31Be strong. You're going to live a life of excellence.38:41When it's all said and done. You've got to be a man or woman of character. You've got to carry out the instructions so that you walk in confidence. Let me ask you. Are you confident in the Lord? Ask you that again. Listen to me young people. Why it's important you carry out the instructions. Sitting right where you're sitting young people. Guess what? I had an alcoholic mother. I had domestic violence in my house. There was drugs and alcohol that was sold.39:10Everything about my life said, man, how are you going to honor? You know what the instructions were that I learned? It was out of Ephesians 6. Children, obey your parents in the Lord. Honor your father and your mother. And you know what I did, young people? I honor my parents when they live in dishonorable lives. He says, this is the first commandment with a promise. I didn't stumble up on success. I didn't have a lucky day. There ain't no, listen to me. You ain't got no lucky days. You ain't going to hit the lottery.39:40It's blessings and curses. And you better line your life up with this word. So you know what I did? I honored my parents. I obeyed that word. So when I got to Alabama, guess what? God gave me favor with Coach Bryan. I played from my freshman year on. You ever meet people that say, well, that guy don't like me. I ain't got, hey man, walk, live in a manner that, guess what?40:09God gave you favor with your enemies. Because we have these negative, unbelieving attitudes that we think we can carry around as children of God, and there's no consequences to it. Now that's a word right there. You know what God has to keep me in check on? What's your attitude like, Jeremiah? God, I think we're coming on this time. God, man. You know, I played in Super Bowl XXII. Can I share with you?40:39Can I give you a little testimony on it? You know how many, how many, how many, out of all the football players, high school, college, and pro, ain't been but 3,000-something players playing in the Super Bowl. I'm one of 3,000 guys. You take all the millions of guys. You know how I got there that year? I got to Denver. I was playing in Tampa. I got, I got cut from Tampa Bay. I went from starting to couldn't even play, until I wasn't there. And you know what?41:09I was watching Denver and Miami play that Monday night. I got fired. I got cut. And my wife will tell you. You know what my prayer was? Lord, I sure would like to be playing in Denver. God didn't wait 24 hours to answer that prayer. They called my house the next morning. Well, you sure was lucky. No, I'm blessed. Matter of fact, I got out there and you know what? God allowed me to make the play in the AFC championship game that put us in the Super Bowl. Because I prayed. Because I prayed. What's your prayer life like?41:40God wants you to be a blessing to somebody. And emotionally, I can tell you what, you don't like them. Do you know what? You could pray and ask God to give you the right feelings for that person. Yeah, God, give me some love for that person. I really don't like them. I can't. Hello, amen. You got a boss man like that? You may have parents. My mother. I have a two-inch skull in my right arm. I should have been an angry black man. Abuse.42:13Abuse. Everything you can think of. Statistics say you don't make it out. You're going to be a victim like your brothers and sisters. I took the instructions of the word of God. And I built my life on it. Two-inch skull. My mother cut me one day with a knife. Drunk. To tell you about rejection. Parents talking to you. Like you're not.42:42I mean, it's amazing. What I heard. The rejection. We were singing it. Nothing can stand against. You better hear me, young people. You get this word down in you. And it'll stand any storm. It'll withstand any storm. It'll withstand any storm. And you know what I said?43:11God, the vision God gave me. Jeremiah, you can see your mother sober. You can see your mother sober. You can see your mother sober. We were in Columbus, Georgia last night. I wished I could show you the video. We celebrated the third, my mother's 33rd year of sobriety. Amen, Pastor Josh. We celebrated 33 years.43:40And I was able to present. My wife and I presented her with her token. There in AA. Woo! 33 years. 85 years of age. She was in her 50s when it happened. But I kept believing. I kept standing on the word. I kept depositing. You got to believe when everything around you says, it ain't going to happen. You stand on God's word. Boy, if you could have saw Mary Castile last night.44:11Sharp as they come. And you know how she finished it? She just shared. She finished off her talk with a dance. She got up there and started dancing. She called it the mammy slap. My son was filming it. Celebrating. Victorious. God is victorious. That's one of his names. Victory.44:41Victory. In the midst of the trial, you got to believe. Whatever comes in 2018, you'd be a man or woman of character. You walk in confidence. And you stand in courage. You'd be encouraged today. Bethel Baptist Church. God said, be encouraged. I don't know what you're faced with, but you be encouraged. Man, I flew back up that road last night. We got in after 12 o'clock. I wasn't going to miss that celebration.45:10I come. That's victory for me every time I see it. Now you see why I'm excited about life. Amen. And you can be too. When the trials come, you stand. You stand. You believe that you can do all things through Christ. You stand in 2018. Decide you're going to live a life45:40of moral excellence. Let us pray. Father, we thank you and praise you.
